Finke Gardens and Nursery

Sharing the Bounty!

1) Purchase a packet of BIG MAX PUMPKIN seeds

2) Grow a GIANT pumpkin

3) Win a PRIZE

Finke Gardens will award a prize valued at $150 to the grower of the largest pumpkin during our Great Harvest Festival in September 2009.

Bring in at least 3 food items for the Lincoln Food Bank and receive a FREE packet of Big Max Pumpkin seeds.  Please be generous!  While supplies last.

The Garden Shop at Finke Gardens offers a wide array of sculpture, containers, fountains and benches for personalizing your garden.  This season, we are excited to offer many unique items for an Asian-inspired space.  Choose from Yin Yang fountains, elegant statuary, and sleek containers.  The Asian garden is often about contrasting forms and texture.  Carry this theme into your landscape with a new dwarf conifer for a year-round focal point or have fun experimenting with the textures of succulents.

The retail store opens for the season on Monday, March 23. The greenhouse is bursting with beautiful color and bright sunshine so it’s a great place to visit even if it’s too early to plant. New pots, garden sculpture, fountain and gardening supplies will be on display. As the temperatures warm up, the outdoor displays of plants will expand. Visit with our staff to know what can be planted when.

New plant introductions have always been the signature of Finke Gardens, and 2009 is no exception. Our website presents information on new plants and ideas for their use in your landscape. Educational classes are also a great source of information on new plants and solutions for your gardening success. If you have questions after store hours, find the “Ask Rich” feature and email us your question. We’re here to help make this spring your favorite season!

For more information about our free gardening classes, click here.

If you can’t wait to begin planting this spring, start a succulent garden indoors before the weather warms up enough to move outside.  There are many exciting and unusual succulents to choose.  They come in a huge variety of textures, forms and colors.  Succulents are a great study of texture for any gardener.

Finke Gardens has been growing succulents through the winter and we are excited to share our creations with you!  When our shop opens March 23, come and check out our pre-potted containers.  Also, new for this season are succulent wreaths and hanging globes that are sure to be a unique accent for your garden.

If you would to get your hands dirty creating your own succulent garden, we are offering a Trough Garden class on Saturday, March 21.  Come make your own succulent container and get a sneak peak of our offerings for the spring!  Click here for more information.

In anticipation of spring, here is a list of helpful tips for getting your garden ready for the upcoming growing season!

Classic Challenges (And Joys) of Spring Garden Clean Up

1. April 1 is often too early.  Watch the extended forecast to see if temperatures below 20 degrees are anticipated.  Is so, delay your work until closer to April 15.
2. Remove debris around bulbs early to reduce the damage of late clean up and to allow full enjoyment of the blooming display.  Use caution – if done too early, the cold will damage the spring blooms.
3. Bundle ornamental grasses with twine, then cut back to 8 to 12 inches with hedge shears.  The bundling makes removal much easier on windy spring days.
4. Hold off on pruning Buddleia or Butterflybush.  Never trim in the fall.  They are slow to initiate growth in the spring – it may be the middle of May.  Pruning isn’t mandatory, but it will lead to a more compact plant.
5. It’s a good time to cut back Blue Mist Spirea (caryopteris), spireas, and shrub roses.  If the spirea or shrub roses are spring bloomers, you may want to wait until after they bloom.  Prune when enthusiasm and interest is high.
6. Some shrubs and perennials are slow to start growing in the spring and are often thought to be dead.  These include Hardy Hibiscus, Plumbago, Miscanthus, Buddleia or Butterflybush, Caryopteris, Fringetree, Oakleaf Hydrangea, Purple Beautyberry, Weigela.
7. Lift and divide perennials like chrysanthemum and asters.
8. If your Autumn Joy Sedum flopped last year, divide it now.  If blooms are reduced, or you see dead in the center of the plant, divide now.
9. Peonies are best divided in August.  If you want to move them now, do so as soon as possible.  Don’t plant too deep, and don’t expect a bloom this season.
10. “Woody perennials” like germander and lavender should be trimmed now.  Trim lightly if you have high expectations for blooms.
11. Spring is the best time to fertilize perennials and shrubs.  Pre-emergent herbicides can also be put down in April to reduce problems with weeds that grow from seeds.
12. See if your flowering trees need any manicuring and prune now if they do.  It’s easiest to see the form of the tree before it leafs out.

For more gardening tips, click here.

• Dwarf Blue False Indigo

• Bright Edge Yucca

• Southernwood

• Silver Horehound

• Blue Glitter Sea Holly

• Helene Von Stein Lambs Ear

If you love a lush garden this tapestry of foliage is sure to delight. This great combination thrives in hot and dry locations where the sun tends to wash out even the brightest flowers. Here, foliage takes center stage with exciting textures and striking forms. And, if you want to add blooms, this collection of plants is a beautiful backdrop to any color you choose!

Dwarf conifers are some of the most distinctive plants available.  They find homes throughout the landscape as focal points, parts of a mixed border, foundation plantings, or simply as interesting novelties for the collector. Shipments from our fellow nurserymen in Oregon have arrived and here are just a few highlights of the many varieties available when we open for the spring. Hurry in, as quantities of these plants are limited and sell out fast!

Concolor Fir Varieties
Abies concolor ‘cvs.’
Concolor is one of the best true firs for eastern Nebraska, but the unique dwarf varieties are not widely available. We have found a grower who could provide a weeping form called ‘Blue Cloak’ as well as the dwarf form, ‘Compacta’. These are among the most exciting new varieties available this year!

Golden Mops Falsecypress
Chamaecyparis pisifera ‘Golden Mops’
Traditionally a finicky plant for Nebraska gardeners, ‘Golden Mops’ is a little easier to grow, and worth the extra effort. The golden highlights remain vibrant and lively throughout the year. Provide well-drained soil and some protection from winter winds.

Blueberry Delight Juniper
Juniperus communis depressa ‘Blueberry Delight’
Groundcover junipers are reliable plants for our gardens, but ‘Blueberry Delight’ combines blue foliage, bold texture, and showy fruit (actually a cone) with zone 3 hardiness to make a versatile landscape plant. It loves hot and dry!

Dwarf Upright Norway Spruce
Picea abies ‘Clanbrassilliana Stricta’
This is one of the very first dwarf conifers ever propagated (1798). With its Irish heritage, this is a perfect St. Patrick’s Day feature. It eventually reaches a height of 15 feet and forms a loose pyramid. The original plant may still be seen growing in Tollymore Park in County Down, Ireland.

Riverside Serbian Spruce
Picea omorika ‘Riverside’
According to Dirr, Serbian is “perhaps the most handsome of the spruces. The habit is more refined and graceful than most.” ‘Riverside’ was selected for its narrow (but not upright) form. Bicolor needles make the plant shimmer in the sunlight.

Blue Shag White Pine
Pinus strobus ‘Blue Shag’
Powdery blue-green color combines with fluffy soft texture to make a real eye-catcher. Growing slowly to 5 feet high and wide with a graceful habit, this conifer is best used as a focal point or an anchor at the back of a mixed border.